More Isle of Wight residents will have to head to Portsmouth, instead of Southampton for cancer treatment.
Colorectal and breast cancer patients will receive their oncology services from specialists at Queen Alexandra Hospital, in an extension of the strategic partnership between the Isle of Wight NHS Trust (IW) and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU), which started in 2019.
The move will take place next Monday, April 4, but patients will still be diagnosed, surgically treated, tested, receive chemotherapy treatments and attend appointments at St Mary’s Hospital on the Island as far as possible.
As the tertiary centre for tumour groups, some cancer services will remain at Southampton General Hospital, including lung, brain, upper gastrointestinal and neurological cancers.
For those in the middle of their treatment, it will continue at Southampton and aftercare will be provided by PHU.
Radiotherapy will also move to Portsmouth, due to the specialist licences, equipment and staff required.
There will be no changes to the Island’s chemotherapy unit.
Patients affected by the move — roughly 200 breast cancer and 100 colorectal patients — should have received a letter explaining the changes to them along with an appointment letter from PHU.
Some Island cancer patients, including prostate, skin, head and neck, already receive care from PHU and the IOW say no complaints have been received about the services it provides in the last two years.
Dr Akash Maniam, one of the Island’s new breast cancer consultants, from PHU, said he cannot wait to work on the Island.
He said: “With the remit and staffing we have at Portsmouth, it is a natural step in our partnership and will harmonise the care we are providing in the region and build on our good relationship.”
At a meeting of the Isle of Wight Council’s health and social care scrutiny committee this month, the Island trust’s interim chief executive, Darren Cattell, said they were really pleased about the move as PHU was able to provide the specialist care needed.
He recognised there may be more or fewer travel issues, depending on where patients lived on the Island but the trust was looking at where the best possible care was and patients would get the right possible care in the right place.
Those patients unable to travel daily to PHU for treatment will be accommodated at a nearby hotel following discussions with their oncologist.
The Daisy Bus will also continue to operate providing travel to and from the hospitals from Hovertravel and Red Funnel terminals.
For more information about travel to the mainland for treatment, Wessex Cancer Trust has updated its information brochure and website.
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